The Indian Government is negotiating with a few Iraqi companies to relax their labour contracts so that workers willing to return home from the embattled nation can be allowed to do so. Even though only a limited area in Iraq is affected by violence, Indian workers living in relatively peaceful places too are desperate to return home.
“We are cajoling, convincing and requesting employer companies, but they are governed by their laws. While we do understand the fear of Indians who are even in safe areas, but the companies cannot be compelled to release them since each worker is bound by a separate contractual obligation,” official sources said.
A report by Amnesty International has claimed that “several hundred” Indian nationals in the Najaf province of Iraq may be unable to return home because their employer refuses to return their passports. Though Najaf so far is not affected by violence, the organisation claimed that with fighting between State and armed groups intensifying across Iraq, the Indian workers could be facing danger.
According to Amnesty, some of these workers said they have not been paid salaries for the past five months and their employers are refusing to return their passports.
The Indian embassy in Baghdad has asked all such workers to provide their passport details via text message. “I have been working here for over two years and my employer is withholding more than $1,500 of my salary. Most of my colleagues are in the same situation,” a worker reportedly told Amnesty International.
The Indian side has arranged for a meeting with the employers, workers and recruiting agents to work out a possibility. However, Indian sources said that only 28 people from this particular construction company are keen to leave and the Indian embassy officials in Baghdad are working on it.
The workers said their employer had told them that they were safe and would be moved to safer ground if they perceived a threat from the armed groups led by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). One of the migrant workers from India told Amnesty International India: “The employer holds all our passports and refuses to return them. We have been restricting ourselves to the company premises since the conflict began because we are scared. Without our passports we can’t leave this country, and every passing day makes us feel more and more unsafe. We just want to go home.”
“Many of us have huge debts back home. But we don’t care about the money any more. We only want to return to our families immediately. We are only about 200-km from the conflict zone. Danger is approaching and we can feel it,” said another employee.
About 49 out of the 1,350 Indians - employed in a power sector Turkish company in Kurdish control area - who wanted to leave Iraq have been sent back while negotiations are on with other employers. Another 16 people who were stranded in affected areas of Iraq have returned to India. More batches are expected to return in the coming days as Indian embassy officials are working overtime to complete documentation for their safe passage home.
According to Amnesty International migrant workers, including those from India, are among the most vulnerable groups in Iraq as fighting between government forces and armed groups led by ISIS spreads to other areas in the country.
Meanwhile, it has been reaffirmed to India that thee 40 kidnapped Indian workers remain unharmed in Iraq. Government sources said that India has information on the identity of the kidnappers who are holding Indians and some other nationals but they do not want to take names to prevent complications in managing their release. India is more hopeful for their early release since 44 workers, including Turkish nationals abducted from Kirkuk, were handed over to the police forces in Kirkuk on Friday.